Gallia Academy needed exactly one shot on goal to end Unioto’s season on Thursday. Colton Reed’s first-half goal stood up the rest of the way as the Blue Devils beat the Shermans 1-0 in a Division III district quarterfinal in Chillicothe, advancing with a 14-3-1 record.
Unioto spent most of the match on the attack. The Shermans sent a barrage of shots at Gallia Academy goalkeeper Maddux Delaney, putting nine shots on target and pressuring the Blue Devils’ back line for nearly the full 80 minutes, but they could not find the back of the net.
Reed changed the match with 17:38 remaining in the first half. The senior took possession on the right side of the penalty area and slipped a shot into the far side of the net, giving Gallia Academy the only goal it would need.
From that point forward, and especially after halftime, Gallia Academy dropped eight to nine players back into a defensive shape. The packed defense made clean looks hard to come by, and Delaney turned away everything Unioto sent at him to preserve the shutout.
“Tommy Mautz and myself started coaching junior high in 2021, and these seniors were seventh-graders when we started coaching them,” Unioto coach Shane Mathey said. “In five of their six years, they’ve been coached by us. This one hurts. I felt like we were the better team tonight, but at the end of the day, Gallia Academy came and brought it. They’re leaving with a victory.”
Mathey credited the Blue Devils’ quality despite the one-sided shot count. “Gallia Academy is a great team, and I really feel like the top seven teams in the district, any one of them could win the division,” he said. “I still feel that way.”
Unioto’s season ends at 10-6-1, with a senior class that closed a five-year run under the same coaching staff dating back to junior high. The Shermans’ nine shots on target against a single shot faced will be the statistic that stings longest from the quarterfinal.
Gallia Academy moves on in the Division III district tournament with the 1-0 win. Behind Delaney’s nine-save shutout and Reed’s finish, the Blue Devils advance to the next round as one of the district’s surviving teams.